Mekong Restaurant

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the place's attributes and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately visited the place. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

V: A nice, low-key vibe all around. Mekong has a big, wide open seating area with a long bar. A few TVs are mounted on the walls all around the bar area. It's not overly fancy or anything, but that's the way it should be.

Q: A high level of quality with the beers here - nothing stale to report.

S: The bartender was quite friendly and prompt, and knew a bit a about the beers he was serving. Can't ask for much more than that.

S: An excellent selection of beer, all on draft. Lots of local / state (The Veil, Ocelot, Triple Crossing), national (Prairie, Knee Deep, Dogfish Head), and foreign (BFM, De Dolle, Alvinne). They also had a handful of beers from The Answer Brewpub next door. Overall, a wisely chosen selection.

F: Fantastic food. I tried the pho and a spring roll, both of which were excellent.

Stopped in Richmond on way home from Florida. Checked BA for a place in Richmond and saw the reviews so I had to see it for myself. It did not disappoint. One of the best beer selections I have seen. Had a Russian River/Firestone collaboration and a Belgium strong ale. Pho soup was unbelievable. The server asked how I heard about the place and told him BA. He was very nice to us on a very busy night. Not sure when I will be back in Richmond but I will definitely stop back if I am in the area.

First, thanks to the forums and the great BA's that responded to my request for info I was able to make this the first beer stop on my journey from NY to Augusta, GA.

Super tasty Vietnameese food and a load of quality brews on tap...life is good... I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and a few tasty, fresh and local drafts...well worth stopping at if you are passing through...I'd be a regular if I was a local...

Don't let the unassuming exterior fool you--this place is amazing! Top notch Vietnamese food, cool relaxed atmosphere, and a love of serving huge varieties of excellent beer that is essentially unparalleled!!

The Answer Brewpub is attached so you can easily make this a near-full day experience!

This gem of great Vietnamese food would be easy to miss as it sits in an unassuming strip mall and the interior decor is basically what I expected for an Asian restaurant with the exception of the number of beer signs around on the walls. There were all sorts of folks here eating/drinking from families to groups of folks in their 20s/30s to retirees and folks came from all different ethnic backgrounds.

The beers were well poured, served at the proper temperature, with the proper amount of head, and in proper glassware.

The service was quite good - attentive, quick, and friendly. The servers were knowledgeable about both the food and the beer and I heard them offer suggestions for both to other patrons around us as well as explaining some of the dishes to first time diners (of Vietnamese food).

I have never seen a beer list like this in a Vietnamese restaurant (I've been lucky in most previous Vietnamese restaurants to have a choice between 5-6 different American Adjunct/Euro Pale Lagers) and it rivaled many of the really good beer places I have visited in other cities. 50 taps of craft with a focus on local Richmond breweries (including some rarer offerings) and Belgian style beers. I wish that I had a driver with me so that I could have tried more of the options available.

Possibly the best Pho broth that I have ever tasted. Food was excellent, I would stop by on any trip taking me through (or by) Richmond even if it did not have the incredible beer selection. Only minutes from I-95 for folks passing through.

If you blink you'd miss it. Unassuming restaurant in a strip mall. The inside is similar, basically no windows and the decor consists of beer posters hanging on the walls. Even the ceiling is paneled like an aging office building. That being said, this place is all about the beer. Great selection and many beers that go really well with the fantastic food. Was very busy and service reflected that, but it was completely understandable. Here and The Answer next door are must visits in Richmond, without a doubt.

One of the best beer places I've ever been to, though their image and marketing don't signal anything of the sort. The website looks like it was designed in the late 90s, and their building's facade is just a storefront in a strip mall in a completely nondescript street in Richmond. This, it turns out, is a good thing.

The vibe is fantastic precisely because it avoids all the trappings associated with modern, trendy restaurants. There was a great article about this recently, detailing how the rise of uniform reviewing platforms like Yelp have led to a worldwide homogeneity in new restaurants. A new, trendy place in New York will have shockingly similar decor and menu to a new place in LA, or Akron, or even Cardiff. The best places, then, are the ones that establish firm images outside of the uniform ratings system, and Mekong is definitely such a place.

The decor is straighforward: medium strength lighting, woody walls, high tops, etc. TVs play sports at a low volume. Were it not for their very impressive collection of beer swag, this would look like any other medium-priced Asian restaurant housed in a strip mall.

This MOR vibe is accentuated perfectly, however, by the staff. They are kind and jokey and rude and profane. "What you want, motherfucker," the bartender said to a regular, and the regular could not have been happier to have been greeted in such a way.

If you're an excessive normie and profanity burns your precious ears, this is not the place for you. There are plenty of new, Safe Space restaurants that are designed to prevent you from suffering even a secondsworth of confusion or self-awareness. I urge you to consult Yelp to find a list of them.

And I need to stress: there was no meanness whatsoever in the bartender's tone or intention. He was just being friendly in an unguarded way. And, in an era where "progressive" scenes are rapidly losing their edge and spontaneity in sad attempt to make everything as non-threatening as possible, I found this sort of approach remarkable and refreshing.

But even if you hate that sort of candor and prefer the canned, ersatz vibe of newer beer joints ("woah! they have edison lamps and they're playing the Jack Johnson spotify station!"), you cannot deny the majesty of this place's food and beer.

As for the food: I've never been to Vietnam, but I've had pho in places ranging from Portland, Maine to Hollywood, California, and Mekong's was far and away the best I've ever sampled. Even if the beer list wasn't a tenth as extensive, I'd still recommend this place just for the food.

The beer list is also probably as varied and extensive as any I've ever seen, as their geographic placement allows them to draw from some of the best of the midwest, east coast, and west coast, along with an excellent selection of Belgian brews. They had Alesmith, Bells, and Maine BrewCo all on tap, along with Chimay and Rodenbach. They even had Maine's Lunch, which is really hard to find in freaking Boston.

Overall, I'd rank Mekong in the same class as the big boys: Lord Hobo, Map Room, Three Penny, Blue Palms, Sugar Maple etc. Only their otherworldly vibe and excellent food actually push them to the top of that vaunted class.

After reading about Mekong in several of the national beer magazines, I made this stop #2 on my Saturday beer visit to Richmond. I visited in the mid-afternoon, so it was a little slow, which worked in my favor as the bartender had some time to chat with me about the history of the place.

I can honestly say I have never been to a place like Mekong before. I've been to good Vietnamese restaurants. And I've been to restaurants with world class tap lists. But never to one place that features both! The food was delicious, and the tap list was fantastic. A great mix of locals, top US beers, and great international offerings. It was so cool to be in an Asian restaurant that was totally decked out with emblems from the best breweries in the world.

A truly memorable experience and must visit. I drove 2 hours to get there, and it was totally worth it!

Outstanding list of beers, many of the great belgians which I love, plenty of variety from around the country. The food was outstanding and the prices for the food and beer was excellent. Plus, food was also outstanding. Wish I spent more time in Richmond.

This was one of my most surprising restaurant visits in the last few months - although I had heared of it before. Basically I came for the food - which was excellent Vietnamese cuisine at a very good price - and took the vast beer selection as an add-on. But once we saw the beer list (which we had to ask for) we were inspired to do beer and food pairings. Our lunch experience was so good that we decided to return for dinner, when the place was a bit crowded. Service was as good as at lunchtime. Beer and food just fantastic (a term I rarely use).